This Royal Flying Corps (RFC) cap badge, dating to the First World War, was discovered by Murray while metal detecting in the Surrey Hills. Found remarkably more than a foot below the surface, it emerged from the ground still clearly displaying the distinctive crowned RFC monogram surrounded by a laurel wreath, an emblem belonging to the pioneering days of British military aviation.
The Royal Flying Corps was formed in 1912, just two years before the outbreak of the First World War. Initially a relatively small organisation, it expanded dramatically as aircraft rapidly developed from machines used largely for reconnaissance into an essential part of modern warfare. In April 1918, the RFC merged with the Royal Naval Air Service to create the Royal Air Force, meaning badges like this belong to a relatively short but hugely important period in aviation history. RAF Museum.
The badge would have been worn on the service cap of a member of the Royal Flying Corps. Its design features the intertwined letters RFC, enclosed within a laurel wreath and surmounted by the King’s Crown. More than a century underground has left the metal heavily weathered, but the design remains remarkably recognisable, a small personal object connecting its original wearer with the birth of British military aviation.
Exactly how an RFC badge ended up in the Surrey Hills is difficult to know. It could simply have been lost by a serviceman while travelling, training or spending time in the area. What makes this particular discovery even more intriguing is its depth. The badge was recovered more than 12 inches below the present ground surface, far deeper than we would normally expect to find an object of this age.
Was it deliberately buried? Did it fall into a wartime trench, ditch or other feature that was subsequently filled in? Or has more than a century of ploughing, soil movement and changing land use gradually carried it deeper into the ground? Without further evidence we may never know. What is certain is that something which once formed part of an RFC serviceman’s uniform disappeared into the Surrey landscape and remained there for over a century.
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